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The following is an excerpt from the Herman Miller Research Summary: New Executive Officescapes: Moving from Private Offices to Open Environments (©2003). “The move toward collaboration and teaming in the workplace has had a major impact on the way offices are designed today. As organizations are being restructured to support teamwork and enhance more collaboration and interaction among employees, executives are also realizing the advantages of working in an open office environment. CEOs and other high-level executives are observing how open environments foster processes and behaviors that encourage freeflowing communication and spontaneous exchanges—the chance encounter in the elevator, the after-lunch banter among team members—and they’re deciding they want to be a part of it. Closer to the Action Although private offices may be a way to rank status, they can also be “organizational straightjackets,” limiting the way in which the organization functions, particularly in the information age. Long isolated from their staff and other organizational members, executives may find that they’ve lost touch with the pulse of the company without knowing it, that decisions might have been made differently had they had regular access to a wider range of information from more diverse sources. Getting more in touch with each other and with their employees was one of the goals Jon Volkert, president of John Deere Credit, Des Moines, had in mind when its top executives went to open offices in June 2000. “We wanted to create a more open environment, with a greater sense of collaboration,” says Mr. Volkert, who championed the switch. “Upper management wanted to be more accessible and less intimidating to the staff to encourage more communication. We also wanted to be able to communicate easier with each other.” Jim Israel, senior vice president of Worldwide Equipment Financing at John Deere Credit, says the move was part of a larger overall strategy. “By moving to open offices, senior leadership helped set a very distinct tone supporting the idea that we were all going to be working in a new way, and that was an important message to give our organization,” he says. Both Israel and Volkert say it’s worked out very well, even for those who were reluctant to leave their private offices behind. “There’s a whole different environment in the company,” says Mr. Volkert, “a much more collaborative feeling throughout.” “When we were all in enclosed offices there were days that I literally didn’t see anybody,” says Israel. “Now I see everybody every day. I’m very happy we did it; it’s been a very positive change for us.” For the complete text of this research summary, please CONTACT Thomas Interior Systems at info@thomasinterior.com." |
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